Seal-feed for bottle-capping machines.



C; WINTER.

SEAL FEED FOR BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINES.

APPLICATION men MAY 25, 1909. RENEWED OCT. 11. m4.

Patented May 18, 1915.

a SHEETSHEET"I.

C. WINTER. SEAL FEED FOR BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINES APPLICATION FILED MAY 25. 1909. RENEWED OCT. 17, 1914. ,090.

Patented May1'8, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2- 5 vwehtoz 0 WINTER.

SEAL FEED FOR BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, I909. RENEWED OCT. 17,1 14- 1 1 40,090.. Patented ay 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

5 W01; whoa A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK,

SEAL-FEED ron BOTTLE-CAPPINGV MACHINES.

Specification of Letters latent.

Application filed May 25, 1909, Serial No. 498,282. Renewed October 17, 1914. Serial No. 867,242.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES WINTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Woodbury, county of Gloucester, 'State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Seal-Feeds for a mass and feeding them one at a time into the sealing head of a machine for applylng them to bottles, so that on each down stroke of 1the sealing head it is provided with a sea My separating and feeding mechanism may be used whether the bottles are fed automatically or by hand, as the feeding of the seals to the head is dependent upon and controlled by the reciprocation of the sealing head whether that head is reciprocated a continuously or intermittently.

My invention is particularly adapted for separating and feeding seals such as shown inmy Patent No. 904,825, of November 24, 1908, but I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to use with this particular seal, as-my invention may be used with any seal having lugs or tongues.

I accomplish the separation by providing an opening having one or both of its bounding surfaces small enough to enter the space between the tongues of the seal, said opening being so narrow that a single seal cannot pass through except by rolling around'the narrow edge, as will hereafter appear. By

. this arrangement a seal can pass through in one position only, and only one seal can pass through at a time.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the upper part of a seal applying machine provided with my improved separating and feeding mechanism: Fig. 2 is-a rear elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on an en'- larged scale, taken on the line III-III of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a section on the line IV--- IV of Fig. 3; Fig.5 is the same view as Fig. 4 with the parts in different positions; Fig. 6 is a detail section on the line VIVI of Fig. 4; and Figs. 7 and 8 are enlarged details showing the manner in which the seal passes through the opening of the separator.

1 is the upper part of the main frame of abottle capping machine, below which are the Patented May 18,1915.

1) STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES WINTER, OF WOODBURY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO STAR SEAL COMPANY,

well known mechanical'devicesfor recipro- I eating the sealing head.

2 1s the reciprocating rod carrying the sealmg head 3, which Ihave indicated as being of the'construction shown in my copending, application Serial No. 469,963, althoigh any form of sealing head maybe use From the main frame 1 extends a bracket 4, in which is rigidly mounted a supporting j column 5, on the top of which is secured the the hopper.

frame or yoke 6 which carries and separating drum.

Keyed in the yoke or frame 6 is a shaft '7, on which shaft is journaled a hollow drum 8. To the end of this hollow drum there is secured a ratchet wheel 9, and adjacent thereto there is journaled on the shaft a rock arm 10 carrying the pawl 11. The rock arm 10 is connected to the reciprocating sealing head by a link or rod 12, so that every time the sealing head reciprocates, the drum8 is rotated slightly by the pawl and ratchet mechanism.

The drum 8 may be provided with a door 13 to permit access to and inspection of the interior, but ordinarily the said door maybe closed by a spring or look 14. The outer edge or rim 15 of the drum is rounded and is provided with a flange 16. The outer or large end of the drum is closed by a plate 17 having a flange 18 which forms a gutter or channel 19 around the edge of the drum. The plate 17 is rigidly secured to the shaft 7, and the flange 16 of the drum 8 makes sliding contact with the flange 18 of said plate 17. The plate '17 has a large opening 20, over which is secured a hopper 21,-into which the'seals may be fed in quantities so as to pass into the separating drum.

In the bottom of the flange 18 of the plate 17 is an opening 22, through which the sealsmay pass into a' run-way 23.

I havenow described that portion of my invention which separates the seals and pothey pass through the opening 20 into the interior of the drum 8. Here the seals are agitated by the step hystep revolution of? the drum due to the ratchet mechanism, so that the seals whichare'nested or stuck together are loosened and separated pne from another. Owing to the taper of the drum, the seals slide down to the bottom of j the edge of the drum, the rounded portion of said edge being narrow enon h to,

ass between the tongues of the sea 24:. F urthormore, the distance between the plate 17 and the rim 15 of the drum is such that a seal cannot pass through unlessit is in the position Fig. 1:. Inasmuch as the rim 15 and the 1 tthey fall one at ter 19 are continuous, several seals can ro p through at different points at the same time, 1

but all fall into the gutter in the same 'position and roll down to theoutlet 22, where a time into the run-way If the run-way 23 is filled, the seals simply back upin the gutter 19, and as the seals are free to roll in said gutter, thereis no danger of clogging. In practice the run-way 23 may be made long enough a number of seals, so that it makes no difiex ence whether several seals come through at i one time or several reciprocations of the sealing head take place without a seal pass- 7 ing through. I in other words, I utilize'this mechanism for separating the seals but'not.

for timing them in accordance with the strokes of the sealing head,

Normally thisstop 28 time the spring pusher Having the seals thus separated and an ranged in thedesiredpositionin the runa way 23, I dropthem out of said run-way one at atime by means or a double stop at the.

lower end of the runway. This double stop consists of alever 25 j'ournaled in a bracket rigidly secured a the outside of the runway 23. The; run-way 23 has an opening 2'? throughout its'length, and the lower en of v, the lever 25 carries a stop 28, which passes into the run-way through the openin 2?. holds up all .0 the seals in the "run-way. At the other end of the lever 25 is carried a spring pusher 29, which normally does not enter the opening in the run-way. The sealing head 3 carries a rod 30 which strikes a finger 31 on the lever 25 when the sealing head nears the upper limit of its movement. This rocks the lever 25 so that the stop 28 is drawn out fl'fom under-"the column of seals, and atthe same 29 pushes against the second seal in the column, and temporarily supports the column so as to allow the botto hold quite torn seal'to drep out. As. soon as the sealing head starts down again the stop 28 passes into its normal positien, and the pusher 29 releases the column of seals, which drop down ready for another operation. The bottom seal in droppin out of the run-way, as just described, woul probably slide into position in the sealinghead, but as. it might sometimes stick or catch, I prefer to make the feed certain bypositively inserting the seal into the head by means which I will now describe, with particular reference to Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6.

. igidly mounted on the reciprocating sealing head is a horizontal trough-like member 32,,having an opening in one side to receive the seal from the lower end of the run-way 23. Secured within the member 32 is a seal stop or guide 33, against which the seal rests after. it slides into place from the run-way 23." The lower end of the run-way is curved, as at 34, so as to bring the seal aronndand guide'itinto the trough of the member 32'. Within the trough and back of the seal-stop 33" is a slitted block 35, having,

therethrough a fixed pin 36. Integral with or rigidly attached to the forward end of the b ock 35 is a plate 37. A plate 38 is rigidly secured to the frame of the machine, and has therein a diagonal slot 39, in which the pin 36 travels.

Theresult of this construction is that the member 32' and its parts just describedi reciprocateup and down with. the sealing head, while the plate 38- is stationary,.andf consequently-the block 35 and its plate 3 reciprocate back and forth in the trough in time with the sealing head because of the motion of the pin 36 in the diagonal slot 39. ,Qonsequently, when the sealing head is at the upper'end of its stroke, the opening in the trough of member 32 registers with the curved end 3% of the runway 23, and the seal, which is at this instant released from the run-way by the withdrawal of the stop 28,, drops into the trough on top of the plate 37, which at this timeis at the forward end of its stroke.

Now as the sealing head descends, the pin 36, traveling rearwardly in the slot 39, draws back the block 35' and the plate 3?. on which the seal 24': is resting. Rearward movement of the. seal, however, is. prevented by the seal stop 33', so that when the plate 3'? reaches the limit of its back movement, or, in other words, when the sealing head is at the bottom of its stroke, the seal 24 d. ops off the plate 37' on to the bottom of the trough of the member 32, The position of the parts and the seal at this stage of the operation is shown in Fig. 5. Now as the sealing head starts up, the plate 37 moves forward, pushing the seal before it and into the sealing head through the opening 40, where it is grasped by spring fingers or any well known I form of chuck, which need not be here illus trated or described. Just as this seal is being pushed into its finalposition the another seal is released by the rod 30 striking the finger 31, and a new seal drops into the position 'shownin Fig. 4.

It will be observed that I first individualize and ositionthe seals without respect to the num er so acted upon at each stroke of the sealinghead, and that I then release one of the positioned seals at each stroke of the sealing head and positively insert it into thei seal chuck or catch in the sealing head.

character described to a bottle sealing de-- vice, comprising areceptacle for the mass 01 seals, a chute communicating with said receptacle of a width to comfortably convey the seals only in endwise positions, and an 50 entranceto said chute having an obstruction at that point less than the :height of the to said seals making the width of the chute seals, and enlarged parts above and below said obstruction to receive respectively the up er and lower tongues directed thereto of end wise positioned seals to permit said positioned seals to rock around said. obstruc- -tion to pass said tongues" thereby in tilted positions.

2. An apparatus for feedingseals' of the character described to'a bottle sealing device, comprising a receptacle for the mass of seals, a chute communicating with saidreceptacle of a width to comfortably convey the seals only in endwise positions, an entrance to said chute having an obstruction to said seals making the width of the chute at that point less than the height of the seals, and enlarged parts above and below said obstruction to engage respectively the upper and lower tongues, directed thereto of endwise positioned seals to ermit said posi-. tioned seals to worm aroun said obstruction to pass said tongues thereby in tilted positions, and means for agitating sa1d mass of seals at said entrance.

3. An apparatus for feeding seals of the character described to a bottle sealing device comprising a receptacle forthe mass of seals, a chute communicating with said re ceptacle of a width to comfortably convey the seals only in endwise positions, a contracted entrance-to said chute making the width of the chute at that point less than the height of the seals, said entrance having a zig-zag side wall to permit endwise positioned seals having-tongues directed to: wa'rdsaid wall to worm their way past said zig-zag wall'to carry 4.. An apparatus for feeding seals .of the character described to a bottle sealing device comprising a receptacle, for the mass-"of seals, a chutecommunicatin withsaidj re- .ceptacle ofa width to com ortably, convey theseals only in 'endwise positions,'a contracted entranceto said chute witha side their tongues past said 'contracted entrance in tilted positions. f

face having an upper part flaringupwardly away from saidchute, a second part below and adjacent said contracted entrance flaringdownwardly away from said' chute and another part-below and adjacent said second part flaring downwardly tosaid chute forming .a zig-zag entrance to permit en'dwise "positioned seals having fianges directed'toward saidzig-zag'entrance havingfa tum 'bling motion to pass the'said contracted entrance .in tilted positions;

5.'An apparatusfor feeding seals of the character described to. a bottle sealing devicefcomprising a receptacle for the mass of seals, a chute communicating withsaid receptacle of a width to comfortably convey theseals only in endwise positions, a contracted entrance to said chute with a side face having an upper part flaring'upwa'rdlyv awayfrom the said chute, an adjacent lower part flaring downwardly away from said chute anda part below and. adjacent said last part flaring downwardly to, said chute forming a zig-zag entrance to permit edge wise positioned seals having flanges directed toward said zig zagentrance having a tumbling motion to pass the said contracted entrance in. tilted positions, and means for' .105 6, An apparatus for feeding seals of the moving 'said upper part. v

character described to a bottle sealing device comprising a receptacle for the mass of seals, a chute communicating with said re-:

'cepta cle of a width to comfortably convey the seals only in endwise positions, and a contracted annular entrance to said chute making the widthof the chute at that point less than the height of the seals, said en: trance having an annular side wall of zigzag formation to permit endwise positioned seals having flanges directed toward said zig-zag wall having a'tumbling motion to pass the said contracted entrance in tilted.

positions. r

. 7. An apparatus for feeding sealsof the character described to a bottle sealing device comprising a receptacle for the mass of seals, a chute communicatin with said toceptacle of a widthto com ortably convey the seals only in endwise positions, a contracted annular entrance to said chute making thewidth of the chute at that point less than'the height of the seals, said entrance having an annular side wall of zig-zag for-.

mation to permit edgewise positioned seals having flanges directed toward said zig-zag Wall having a tumbling motion to pass said contracted entrance in tilted positions, and escapernent mechanism passing a seal to the sealing head at each reciprocation thereof.

8. An apparatus for feeding seals of the character described to a bottle sealing device comprising a receptacle for the mass of seals, a chute communicating with said re ceptacle of a Width to comfortably convey the seals only in endwise positions, a contracted annular entrance to said chute making the width of the chute at that point less than the height of the seals, said entrance having an annular side Wall of zig-zag formation to permit edgewise positioned seals having flanges directed toward said zig-zag wall having a tumbling motion to pass the height of the seal for the said contracted entrance in tilted positions, and means for agitating said mass of seals.

9. A seal conveying chute having an entrance 'formed to admit flanged seals to the, said chute in a predetermined direction by giving properly presented seals three consecutive oppositely inclined tilted positions in passing said entrance, said entrance comprising on one side a Wall having three consecutively oppositely inclined sections, the union of the first tWo sections forming a contracted entrance of less width than the urposes set forth. In Witness whereof I ave hereuntoset my hand, this 21st day CHARLES WINTER.

Witnesses:

DAVID. O. WATKINS, HALLACK PENROSE.

of May, 1909. 7 

